{"id":26422,"date":"2020-03-17T08:29:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T16:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=26422"},"modified":"2020-03-17T08:29:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T16:29:35","slug":"darkness-at-noon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/darkness-at-noon\/","title":{"rendered":"Darkness at noon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Casino dominos continue to topple. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas<\/strong> is the latest Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> casino to close thanks to Covid-19<\/strong>, “temporarily.” (Well, none of the closures has been permanent but there are different degrees of \"\"temporary-ness, MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s being the most radical.) Meanwhile, the damage continues to radiate through the regional gaming industry. Here’s a helpful chart<\/a>\u2014helpful unless you’re color-blind, like us.\u00a0Add MGM Grand Detroit<\/strong>, MGM Springfield<\/strong> and Beau Rivage<\/strong> to the list of flagship regional properties that have gone dark. There was some belated solicitude for the workforce at Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>, which said it would provide flex time for employees who need to be with their children:\u00a0\u201cThe health, safety and livelihood of our team members and their families is our most important consideration right now …\u00a0The company is not considering layoffs or any changes to any of our existing health care benefit plans. Our team members are our most valuable asset, and we have every intention of getting through this challenging situation together.\u201d Bravo, Sands.<\/p>\n

After waffling for a couple of (precious?) days on the issue, New Jersey<\/strong> Gov. Phil Murphy<\/strong> (D) ordered Atlantic City<\/strong> casinos shuttered, saying,\u00a0\u201cIt is no longer time for business as usual.\u00a0This is real. Stop believing folks who say this isn\u2019t real.\u201d Connecticut<\/strong> Gov. Ned Lamont<\/strong> (D) vowed that Nutmeg State casinos would close but it’s an empty promise because that decision is solely the province of Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> and Mohegan Sun<\/strong>. (Tribal sovereignty’s a bitch, huh, Ned?) Mohegan Sun said it was modifying operations and pondering “difficult decisions” on the issue. Foxwoods is doing a deep clean, while shutting down parts of its considerable casino floor.<\/p>\n

In Michigan<\/strong>, both MotorCity<\/strong> and Greektown Casino<\/strong> have been ordered to close. All New York State<\/strong> ones have also been commanded to go dark \"\"(which will only increase the yelps for tax relief coming from upstate but that’s a story for another day), with the tribal ones joining in a voluntary, 14-day moratorium. Some Michigan tribal casinos remain open, while Gun Lake Casino<\/strong> jumped the gun, as it were, shutting down even before<\/em> Gov. Gretchen Whitmer<\/strong> (D) recommended it. Mississippi<\/strong> private-sector casinos went dark at midnight yesterday and Louisiana<\/strong> ones have been idled for at least 14 days. (Again, this does not apply to Native American gambling halls.) March gaming revenues are basically going to be one big-ass write-off.<\/p>\n

Wind Creek Casino<\/strong> in Alabama<\/strong> is being rather reckless. A guest tested positive for Coronavirus but Wind Creek only closed for a day, to do a \"\"deep cleaning, and declared that adequate. (Gov. Kay Ivey<\/strong> [R] must be having fits and understandably so.) California<\/strong>‘s myriad tribal casinos are taking a varied approach, with at least six bands (including the owners of Harrah’s Rincon<\/strong>) biting the bullet. While these may seem like radical reactions to the pandemic, Gov. Whitmer (pictured<\/em>) said it best: \u201cWe know that\u2019s where masses of people congregate.\u00a0There is a lot of close contact in a casino\u00a0…\u00a0that\u2019s why it\u2019s front and center in a lot of places across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no comfort to be had for the casino industry from\u00a0National Institute of Allergy &\u00a0Infectious Diseases<\/strong> Director Dr. Anthony Fauci<\/strong>, who said<\/a>,\u00a0\u2018\u2018I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing.” That’d be pretty significant.<\/p>\n

Fears of Coronavirus are playing hob<\/a> with the Las Vegas restaurant industry. Jos\u00e9 Andres<\/strong> has closed<\/a> his three of his four restaurants. Ditto<\/a> \"\"Giada de Laurentiis<\/strong>. At least those guests to whom Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> is trying to market with reduced room fees will have more than a few<\/a> places to eat. Caesars is also taking advantage of the shutdowns to renovate the Bacchanal Buffet<\/strong>. It’s keeping its underperforming Ferris wheel in operation, even though you couldn’t pay<\/em>\u00a0us to ride it these days. (Nothing like being in a hermetically sealed globe with a bunch of strangers.) We can’t decide if CEO Anthony Rodio<\/strong> has brass balls or is being foolhardy.<\/p>\n

* Take heart, Las Vegas Raiders<\/strong> fans: Tom Brady<\/strong> is leaving<\/a> the New England Patriots<\/strong>, destination unknown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Casino dominos continue to topple. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is the latest Las Vegas Strip casino to close thanks to Covid-19, “temporarily.” (Well, none of the closures has been permanent but there are different degrees of temporary-ness, MGM Resorts … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[135,23,244,251,66,44,18,166,283,255,241,84,112,245,259,35,167,248,101,69,74,9,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26430,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26422\/revisions\/26430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}